Para quando o "Carro com o Melhor Comportamento de Portugal"... fica aqui a sugestão para a Autohoje!
Pois é... à semelhança dos britânicos os americanos também fizeram a sua selecção mas foram um bocadinho mais além na tentativa de medir OBJECTIVAMENTE (num esforço muito louvável) os parâmetros subjectivos que definem o "Handling" e que se resumem, segundo a publicação, em:
"America's Best Handling Car"
Escusado será dizer que o vencedor foi mais uma vez o Porsche GT3!
Mais interessante é o resumo das apreciações aos "suspeitos do costume":
Honda S2000:
«Honda's F1-inspired engine and close-ratio gearbox obliged Angelelli's inclination toward gentle, controllable power-on oversteer exiting corners of varying speeds, and he appreciated the S2000's light, direct, intuitive steering and neutral demeanor. He found fault with the brakes, which faded badly enough to cut his run short by a lap, and with the chassis's overall rigidity, which trailed those of the closed cars. "Going into the corners you can feel a twist in the beginning, and then it settles to the end of the corner." He recommends softening the rear springs for track duty.»
«Angelelli's ambivalent impressions of the Honda S2000 were backed up by disturbing electronic results. Not only did it rank eighth in lap time and seventh in average grip, it also displayed squirrelly behavior while doing so, as evidenced by its squiggly lateral-g traces and its third-highest slip-angle-rate figure (1.63 degrees/second).»
«Our Honda S2000 divided voters. Some praised its steering and chassis responses as accurate and precise, with little lost motion and superb overall control at the limits. Another camp-in which the campers all stand well over six feet tall-felt a lack of crispness and an artificial heft in the controls that robbed them of confidence in the car's limited handling capabilities. Clearly, fitting comfortably into its tidy cockpit is essential for deriving full pleasure from an S2000.»
Lotus Exige:
«Angelelli felt so at home in this one that he stayed out for an extra lap. "This is a proper sports car. It has the same handling, the same characteristics as the [Pontiac-Riley LMP] race car I'm usually driving." It is demanding, however. The steering is heavy, and the rear end breaks loose with little warning. "You need to use the steering wheel a lot-to turn in and then correct." The brakes are direct, powerful, and linear, though Angelelli prescribes a bit more rear bias. He'd also like to lower the rear spring rates for more grip and to add 100 horsepower.»
«At the other end of the civility spectrum, Angelelli deemed the Corvette most difficult to drive, followed closely by the Exige S. Our gear suggests maybe his familiarity with mid-engine race cars might have colored his opinion here, as our gear identified the Lotus as twitchiest, wagging its tail with an average chassis-slip-angle change rate of 1.96 degrees per second, to the Z06's 1.76.»
«The Lotus Exige S was the only car to receive a unanimous 5.0 score-three, actually, for steering feel, accuracy, and chassis response. It goes to show what's possible when no concessions are made to comfort or civility. Every voter felt soldered directly into the control system of this car, praising every aspect but ride quality and the cockpit (ninth place). Many also admitted fear of misbehavior at the limits, which were too high to probe in public. This one's for purists only.»
«The visceral Lotus Exige entertained all drivers, finishing tops in step-steer response, second in the lane-change, and third at Laguna, but lost big points for its tricky limit behavior and dodgy ergonomics. And so the deft, sophisticated Cayman S earns our Miss Congeniality prize for nipping at the wild Lotus's heels at Laguna and in other transient maneuvers like the lane-change while out-scoring it handily in ride quality, slip-angle shenanigans, and on the public-road drive.»
PS: Destaquei apenas os aspectos negativos tanto do S2000 como do Lotus para ajudar a desfazer os "mitos".
Pois é... à semelhança dos britânicos os americanos também fizeram a sua selecção mas foram um bocadinho mais além na tentativa de medir OBJECTIVAMENTE (num esforço muito louvável) os parâmetros subjectivos que definem o "Handling" e que se resumem, segundo a publicação, em:
- «Ultimate grip and cornering power: The familiar skidpad g-force performance.»
- «Transitional behavior: How the car behaves when turning the steering wheel, especially while accelerating or braking.»
- «Path accuracy and directional stability: How well the car goes where it's pointed and how faithfully it tracks straight ahead.»
- «Steering and brake feel: How well the controls convey what's happening where the rubber meets road.»
- «Chassis composure and control: How confidently the suspension absorbs and reacts to bumps, dips, and changes in the road surface.»
- «Cockpit ergonomics: Control positioning and function, and the seat comfort and support contribute to good car control.»
"America's Best Handling Car"
Escusado será dizer que o vencedor foi mais uma vez o Porsche GT3!
Mais interessante é o resumo das apreciações aos "suspeitos do costume":
Honda S2000:
«Honda's F1-inspired engine and close-ratio gearbox obliged Angelelli's inclination toward gentle, controllable power-on oversteer exiting corners of varying speeds, and he appreciated the S2000's light, direct, intuitive steering and neutral demeanor. He found fault with the brakes, which faded badly enough to cut his run short by a lap, and with the chassis's overall rigidity, which trailed those of the closed cars. "Going into the corners you can feel a twist in the beginning, and then it settles to the end of the corner." He recommends softening the rear springs for track duty.»
«Angelelli's ambivalent impressions of the Honda S2000 were backed up by disturbing electronic results. Not only did it rank eighth in lap time and seventh in average grip, it also displayed squirrelly behavior while doing so, as evidenced by its squiggly lateral-g traces and its third-highest slip-angle-rate figure (1.63 degrees/second).»
«Our Honda S2000 divided voters. Some praised its steering and chassis responses as accurate and precise, with little lost motion and superb overall control at the limits. Another camp-in which the campers all stand well over six feet tall-felt a lack of crispness and an artificial heft in the controls that robbed them of confidence in the car's limited handling capabilities. Clearly, fitting comfortably into its tidy cockpit is essential for deriving full pleasure from an S2000.»
Lotus Exige:
«Angelelli felt so at home in this one that he stayed out for an extra lap. "This is a proper sports car. It has the same handling, the same characteristics as the [Pontiac-Riley LMP] race car I'm usually driving." It is demanding, however. The steering is heavy, and the rear end breaks loose with little warning. "You need to use the steering wheel a lot-to turn in and then correct." The brakes are direct, powerful, and linear, though Angelelli prescribes a bit more rear bias. He'd also like to lower the rear spring rates for more grip and to add 100 horsepower.»
«At the other end of the civility spectrum, Angelelli deemed the Corvette most difficult to drive, followed closely by the Exige S. Our gear suggests maybe his familiarity with mid-engine race cars might have colored his opinion here, as our gear identified the Lotus as twitchiest, wagging its tail with an average chassis-slip-angle change rate of 1.96 degrees per second, to the Z06's 1.76.»
«The Lotus Exige S was the only car to receive a unanimous 5.0 score-three, actually, for steering feel, accuracy, and chassis response. It goes to show what's possible when no concessions are made to comfort or civility. Every voter felt soldered directly into the control system of this car, praising every aspect but ride quality and the cockpit (ninth place). Many also admitted fear of misbehavior at the limits, which were too high to probe in public. This one's for purists only.»
«The visceral Lotus Exige entertained all drivers, finishing tops in step-steer response, second in the lane-change, and third at Laguna, but lost big points for its tricky limit behavior and dodgy ergonomics. And so the deft, sophisticated Cayman S earns our Miss Congeniality prize for nipping at the wild Lotus's heels at Laguna and in other transient maneuvers like the lane-change while out-scoring it handily in ride quality, slip-angle shenanigans, and on the public-road drive.»
PS: Destaquei apenas os aspectos negativos tanto do S2000 como do Lotus para ajudar a desfazer os "mitos".
Comentário